Leah Remini has spent years playing outspoken characters, putting her own family life on reality television and publicly confronting one of the most controversial chapters of her past.

Now, she is reportedly preparing to enter an entirely different kind of television pressure cooker.

Remini, 56, is set to join The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills for Season 16, adding a familiar Hollywood name to a cast that is already undergoing a significant shakeup. She is expected to begin filming later this week.

The move would place the King of Queens alum alongside returning Housewives Kyle Richards, Erika “Jayne” Girardi, Dorit Kemsley, Bozoma Saint John, Rachel Zoe and Sutton Stracke. Jennifer Tilly is expected to appear as a friend of the show.

A premiere date has not yet been announced, leaving viewers to wait for their first look at how Remini fits into the famously complicated Beverly Hills social circle.

But she will not be the only new personality entering the group.

Leah Remini Isn’t the Only New Addition

Just days before reports of Remini’s involvement surfaced, Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles personality Tracy Tutor revealed that she was also joining Season 16.

Tutor, 51, announced the news on Aug. 19, explaining that Beverly Hills is already deeply connected to her personal story.

She has raised her daughters there and built her career there. Now, she joked, she has decided to let viewers even further into her life.

Tutor admitted she was excited and a little nervous about what was coming, while also suggesting that she fully expects to find herself in some trouble once cameras begin rolling.

That combination of established Bravo personality and unpredictable new dynamics could make Season 16 feel very different from previous installments.

Remini, however, arrives with a television résumé that extends well beyond traditional reality programming.

For many viewers, she remains instantly recognizable as Carrie Heffernan from the long-running CBS sitcom The King of Queens. But in later years, she became equally associated with unscripted television and projects centered on her personal experiences.

Her series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, which examined Scientology and featured accounts from former members, earned her two Emmy Awards.

That experience alone makes her an intriguing addition to a franchise built around difficult conversations, personal revelations and cast members being challenged about their pasts.

Remini Has Already Put Her Private Life on Camera

Joining The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills would not be Remini’s first experience allowing cameras into her personal world.

From 2014 to 2015, she starred in the TLC reality series Leah Remini: It’s All Relative, which included her then-husband, actor Angelo Pagán.

Remini and Pagán married in 2003 and remained together for more than two decades before their marriage ended.

In August 2024, Remini filed for divorce from Pagán, citing irreconcilable differences. Their marriage officially ended that year.

Yet their post-divorce relationship did not develop into the kind of bitter public feud often associated with celebrity separations.

Instead, the former couple remained friends.

That was visible only months after the divorce filing when Remini and Pagán were shown together watching a Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles game in November 2024.

Pagán jokingly suggested that some things had never changed and that Sundays could still mean watching his Cowboys with his ex-wife.

That continuing friendship could give Remini an unusual personal storyline if her life after divorce becomes part of her first season in Beverly Hills.

Her Famous Friendships Could Add Another Layer

Remini also enters the franchise with longstanding connections to major Hollywood personalities, including Jennifer Lopez.

The two women have been friends for years, and Remini discussed their relationship in June 2025 while addressing speculation about whether they had grown apart.

Rather than describing a falling-out, Remini explained that friendships naturally change over time.

People may not speak every day the way they once did, she said, but that does not mean the affection between them has disappeared.

She also revealed that after their respective divorces, she and Lopez exchanged supportive messages with each other.

Those messages were loving and encouraging during a period when both women were navigating major changes in their personal lives.

That background gives Remini something particularly valuable in the Housewives universe: an established life outside the show filled with recognizable relationships, family history and experiences that viewers already know something about.

Exactly how much of that personal world will appear during Season 16 remains unclear.

But her arrival comes at a moment when the franchise is already reshaping its cast.

One Housewife Is Leaving as Two New Faces Arrive

While Remini and Tutor prepare to enter the Beverly Hills world, another cast member has stepped away.

Amanda Frances announced earlier in August that she was leaving The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills after one season.

Frances described herself as genuinely grateful for her experience on the series.

Her departure, combined with the reported addition of Remini and the confirmed arrival of Tutor, means viewers should expect a different chemistry once filming gets underway.

The returning cast already includes personalities with long histories on the show.

Richards, Girardi, Kemsley, Saint John, Zoe and Stracke will now potentially have to make room for two women who arrive with very different television identities.

Tutor already understands the Bravo ecosystem through Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles.

Remini brings something else entirely.

She has sitcom fame, previous reality television experience, two Emmy wins, a highly publicized departure from Scientology and a reputation built in part on speaking candidly.

That does not guarantee conflict.

But on a franchise where friendships, disagreements and uncomfortable conversations can change quickly, it certainly gives producers and viewers plenty to work with.

A New Chapter for Remini — and for Beverly Hills

There are still several unanswered questions surrounding Season 16.

Additional cast members have not been announced, and Bravo has yet to reveal when the season will premiere. All 15 previous seasons remain available to stream on Peacock.

For now, the biggest development is the prospect of watching Remini step into one of reality television’s most recognizable franchises.

It is a surprising move, but not necessarily an unnatural one.

Remini has spent much of her career in front of cameras. She has already shown audiences her marriage, her relatives and difficult parts of her personal journey. She has also demonstrated a willingness to discuss subjects that many celebrities might prefer to avoid.

Season 16 could place all of those qualities inside the glamorous but notoriously volatile world of Beverly Hills.

And with Tracy Tutor entering at the same time, Amanda Frances leaving after one season and several established Housewives returning, Remini will not simply be walking into an existing group.

She will be arriving while the group itself is changing.

What happens once the cameras start rolling may determine whether Leah Remini becomes just the latest celebrity to visit the Housewives universe — or one of the personalities who changes its Beverly Hills chapter entirely.